Legendary
by Ryzi
Summary: With the threat of intergalactic war on the horizon, and thousands of Vaults left undiscovered, the Vault Hunters already have their hands full. Will they rise to the occasion as a new disaster is introduced? Or will they crumble under the pressure?
1. Good Riddance

_**A/N: Guess what's back? Back again? That's right my lovely legends. The one and only Legendary has returned! I know this chapter is pretty much the same but don't worry. After re-working the plot...well you'll see. I hope the wait has been worth it and that you'll stick with it!**_

_**SPOILER ALERT: THERE ARE KEY POINTS FROM BORDERLANDS THE PRE-SEQUEL IN THIS. IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED, PLEASE DO NOT ADVANCE.**_

* * *

Prelude: The Vault Hunters say their "Farewells".

The sun was setting on another day on Pandora; a day that had probably been filled with murder and mass mayhem. The bright stars in the universe began to make an appearance as they spotted themselves through the inky sky. Hovering menacingly above the Arid Nexus was the Helios moon base, its bright blue glow illuminating the sands. Skags howled in the distance as the creatures themselves chased their prey across the sands-an obnoxiously painted Bandit Technical. They snarled and snapped their jaws as they pursued the vehicle, howling wildly from the hunt. One of the beasts managed to snap its jaws on the rusted bumper. A loud ferocious screech broke the ambience as a large bird-like beast dove down and dug its claws into the tough flesh of the canine-like monster before taking back to the skies. In the bed of the Technical a Mordecai gruffly laughed, "Aha, atta boy".

This didn't deter the pack though, the skags kept chasing and the passengers all stared at the beasts with incredulous looks. They all drew their guns and fired into the pack. The skags scattered and regrouped at each side of the Technical.

"Hold on, I got this." Maya commented, throwing up her arm and trapping a skag in her Phaselock. The beast writhed and yelped as its flesh was set aflame. The Siren twitched her fingers and the other creatures were forcefully pulled towards the orb.

Salvador laughed wildly as he dual-wielded rocket launchers and fired into the mass. An explosion of blood and gore splattered the sands. The Gunzerker plopped back down with a large grin plastered on his face. The other Vault Hunters all peered into the distance, noticing a warm orange glow in the distance. Everyone smiled and exchanged glances.

Soft chatter and laughter floated through the cool night air as the vehicle drew closer to a blazing bonfire that engulfed one of the Arid Nexus' few trees over the horizon. The passengers all became excited as the blaze grew brighter and brighter.

"Well…Here we are!" Lilith cheered as she activated the vehicle's boost and charged across the dunes, leaving a wake of dust behind.

Silhouetted by the fire, two figures seemed to be having an argument of sorts, and a larger, much bulkier, figure paced back and forth, carrying large objects and dropping them into the sand.

From atop the overhanging cliff by the bonfire, a lone dark figure was nearly invisible against the evening sky. The only way to see he was there was by the bright red '0' projecting into the night. He drew his sword and swung it in an arc, as if to direct the Technical where to go.

The Technical pulled up to the bonfire where the passengers departed and noticed the two figures arguing happened to be none other than Gaige and Axton.

"This isn't some Girl Scout camping trip pipsqueak, why did you only bring marshmallows?!" The Commando huffed at the Mechromancer who was just rolling her eyes. The other Vault Hunters strolled up towards them.

"I didn't _just_ bring marshmallows, I brought chocolate and gram crackers too."

Axton groaned loudly and threw up his arms. Salvador laughed loudly as he scuttled over to the fire with a case of beer and a guitar strapped to his back.

"Lighten up amigo!" The dwarf slapped his friend on the back, the soldier coughed and staged forward from the gesture.

The Vault Hunters gathered by the cliff side and began setting up further; setting up food and music. A mix of various aromas began to fill the air, along with the familiar scents of gunpowder, sweat, blood, and pizza. Everyone took a seat around the fire. They all instantly began chattering away about various memories of past missions, embarrassing moments, and legendary finds.

"Remember the Flynts?" Someone laughed.

"Oh man I found a Bee Shield the other week…" Another bragged.

"…and all those late night jobs?"

In the midst of the conversation, Maya scanned the group and noticed someone missing.

"Hey, where's…Krieg?" She asked; her companions all shrugged.

Some loose pieces of dead wood fell from the blaze, a large hulking figure stood within. The man laughed maniacally.

"BORN INTO FLAAAAME!" He bellowed before stumbling into the open, his flesh set aflame. The group laughed at their companion's actions. Lilith rose to her feet and pulled out a carton of cigarettes then drew one of the small sticks.

She held out the cigarette, "Care to help?" Krieg poked its end with a burning finger. The Phasewalker brought the non-smoldering end to her red lips and inhaled slowly, taking in the familiar aroma before exhaling a large cloud into the clear sky. Maya flicked a finger and suffocated the fire on the Psycho to extinguish.

Krieg made an audible grunt and slumped over, much like a child being told to go to time-out, everyone else shared a soft laugh at their companion's reaction. Salvador pulled the guitar from his back and began mindlessly strumming some chords as Gaige reached into her bag of marshmallows and stabbed one with her prosthetic finger. She then proceeded to remove her artificial limb and held it close to the fire, toasting her marshmallow to perfection. Everyone looked at the Mechromancer curiously.

"Uh…Lil'Slab, ain't ya worried about that arm?" Brick commented after taking a sip of Rakk Ale. The Mechromancer looked at her disembodied limb and pursed her lips.

"Yeaaaaaaah. It seemed like a good idea at the time…" She slid the gooey mass in between two crackers and took a bite, "Oh that's good."

The conversations died down, and everyone listened into the softly crackling fire.

"That reminds me," Axton started with a smirk, "Remember when you got stuck in the sand?"

The teen shot up and glared daggers at the Commando, whom just broke out into laughter, "Man, you were screaming and hollering, I thought something was trying to eat you. But no! You…" He had to pause from laughing too hard, "You were just stuck!"

Gaige's eye twitched in annoyance and she gritted her teeth.

"How did she even get stuck?" Mordecai inquired, the other Vault Hunters all looked at Axton curiously, ignoring Gaige's building anger.

"Okay…hoo…okay. So, we were out where the Sawteeth were, and this kid here was shooting at some barrels. Well one minute I'm fighting, the next I hear 'AH! FUCK! HELP!'" Axton did his best imitation of a girly scream. The younger Vault Hunter flared her nostrils and marched up to her team mate. She tightened her grip on her robotic limb and pulled it back before swinging the disembodied limb hard across Axton's cheek.

"Fuck man…I was just telling a story…Sheesh." He rubbed his aching jaw.

Another awkward silence.

"Then should I tell them of the time you were a piñata?" Gaige narrowed her eyes and smirked evilly. The Commando pressed his lips into a line and sneered, "Yeah, Axton here was being dumb in the Bloodshot Stronghold and fell off a ledge into some wires and well…let's just say for the next half hour psychos were whacking him at with sticks."

A thunderous laugh erupted from the group. Axton shrunk back slightly.

"Oh yeah? Well with The Nortia all fixed. I can't wait to be out of here." He retorted, instantly shutting everyone up.

The silence hung heavy over the group as the Commando's words sunk in. A few of the Vault Hunters exchanged glances, while others looked away.

Right.

That's why they were here.

Lilith took a long drag of her dying cigarette before dropping it and stomping it out in the sand. She exhaled sharply, catching everyone's attention. The Phasewalker rose to her feet and paced over to the fiercely burning fire and stared long into its flames.

"It's…It's been fun guys." She mumbled, her shoulders drooping. Mordecai walked over to his partner and hung his arm across her shoulders and pulled her into a sideways embrace. A soft sniffling sob escaped the Siren as she wiped away a tear, "Damn it, hold it together girl." She hissed to herself. Lilith turned around to face everyone.

"I'm not good at these speeches, but…without you all…well…"

"What I think Lil is trying to say, is thanks. Without y'all, Jack would have wiped us out."

"Yeah."

The other Vault Hunters stood and drew closer to the red-haired Siren, forming one rather awkward group hug.

After the sudden sadness, the Vault Hunters all returned to their seats and sat through a few moments of silence, Salvador began strumming chords once more. His fingers stumbled a few times before he found the right rhythm. Everyone let the soft tune surround and soothe them, even the psychotic Krieg allowed the music to calm him. Gaige hummed lyrics and swayed side to side.

"...'nother turnin' point, a fork stuck in the road..." She murmured. The tension of the past year and a half unwound its grip from the Vault Hunters and dispersed into the vast expanse of the sky. It was all over now. The obvious question hung in the air though. What now? They had already wiped Hyperion off of Pandora, invaded the Helios station and hi-jacked a starship named "The Nortia". They had fought in arenas, gone on hunts, played tabletop RPGs, vacationed at the beach (and killed a huge ass sand worm-crab-thing), sailed the dried up oceans, what next?

Maya looked over at Axton who had moved to the sand and was resting against a log. He looked back at her and gave a small smirk, "I'm heading out to one of the Vault Planets" he commented, "What about you?"

The Siren pulled an ancient looking tome from her stack deck, "researching Sirens."

"Nerd." Axton laughed jokingly. Maya giggled as well then looked over at the Psycho scraping lines in the sand.

"What are you going to do Krieg?" She asked, already fully aware that his answer was going to be deranged, "_But whatever, he's a part of the team too._"

"_Find a way to communicate. We want to say something without screwing up...we want to be a real part of this team."_

"I'LL SCOUR THE KNIVES FOR THE COLD BLOODY PAINS AND EAT ALL THE JUICY FLESHBAGS."

"_...Thanks. We're *really* gonna get there now." _The Psycho dropped his head, mentally scolding himself.

Maya pursed her lips and patted her partner on the shoulder and smiled, "Well I hope you find all those...'juicy fleshbags'..."

Krieg looked up, a spark of joy behind his bloodshot eye. He smiled behind his mask and patted the Siren on the head with a satisfied growl. A marshmallow came flying out of nowhere and bopped the Psycho on the shoulder. Krieg thrashed his head over to the direction the sweet came from to see Gaige smirking.

"Get a rooooom." She giggled and tossed another marshmallow. Maya huffed and stuck her tongue out as the puffy sugar blob bounced off her nose.

Lilith looked over at Salvador and motioned for him to cut the music. The Gunzerker raised a brow, but obeyed. The Phasewalker sighed out another puff of smoke, obviously concerned about something. Brick and Mordecai looked up at their friend and gave small nods.

"Uhm...Guys, there's something else I need to say..." The Firehawk flicked away a few ashes, "When you were up at Helio-"

"Ohyeah! What did you all do up there?" Brick interrupted.

"Well we _were _going to level the whole damn place..." Salvador started.

"BUT! There were people up there...like...People...good people...all scared and...stuff..." Gaige continued.

"So we just kinda stole the starship and hightailed it outta there..." Maya finished and looked up at the moon base.

The Firehawk tapped her fingers together and huffed, fairly agitated that she was itterupted, "We were interrogating Athena...and well...You're not going to believe this but an Eridian came down and warned us that well...War is coming..."

"What and fighting Jack wasn't war? I think we can handle." Axton laughed and gulped down a bottle of ale.

"Axton...I think it meant like...full scale intergalactic warfare...There's only nine of us...ten if Athena helps...that's still not enough."

The group fell silent.

"Well what should we do?" Maya inquired.

"Quoting the Eridian...'War is coming, you'll need all the Vault Hunters you can get.' "

"We'll expand our reach/find a lot more allies yes?/Is that what you mean?" Zer0 stood.

"Yeah, but we'll also need to fortify here. I mean, don't get me wrong, go out and hunt more Vaults and do what you want, but keep your eyes peeled for new recruits. Now that we have The Nortia, it'll be easier to go out farther."

"Do you know how much time we have?" The Commando rose to his feet.

"I'm not sure...The Eridian was pretty vague..."

Everyone packed up the supplies and said their farewells. Hugs and handshakes were given, backs patted, and fists bumped. The Vault Hunters all did their best to keep up their smiles, but it didn't take much to see that behind their proud expressions, fear and uncertainty swirled.

* * *

Four months had passed since the bonfire farewells. Patricia Tannis scurried about her office, re-evaluating all her current footage. Her eyes grew wide and her jaw slacked. She prayed that maybe her equipment was malfunctioning. Yes that had to be it.

A large tremor sounded below the floating city. Those had been becoming more frequent in the last two weeks...

With shaking hands she brought her ECHO to her lips and contacted Lilith, uttering the news to the Siren.

As soon as she hung up, she dropped the device and slumped over on her desk.

_"Of all the times...It had to be now."_

* * *

**_SO HOWS THAT FOR AN INTRO EH? SEE YA SOON!_**


	2. Rise

Lilith placed her ECHO in her storage deck and ran a hand through her messy red hair. She clenched her teeth and shut her eyes, swearing under her breath. The Firehawk paced around a few times as the floor beneath her feet rocked sideways, sending her sprawling on the floor.

"AH SHIT." Mordecai cursed from outside, "You alright down there Lil?"

The Siren pushed herself off the floor and staggered out onto the main deck of a decently sized Sand-skiff. Talon soared overhead and screeched loudly, dive-bombing into a sandworm. Lilith ran to the rail and noticed a rock fall in front of the hovering boat.

"What the hell?" She huffed and pushed back her bangs.

"Those tremors have been really kicking up lately…" Mordecai mentioned, strolling up behind his partner, "So what did Tannis want?"

Lilith bit her lip, "I'll tell you when I have everyone else together…for now, could you do some surveys of the land? See if anything is out of the ordinary?" she rubbed her eyes and slumped back, obviously in distress.

The Hunter opened his mouth to ask what this was all about, but he opted against it seeing his friend's current state and merely nodded.

"Thanks…Can ya get me back to Oasis? Fast?"

Mordecai sprinted up the deck and hopped up to the controls of the Skiff, "Ya might wanna hold on to something Lil!" He called and the Siren held firmly to the rail. The Skiff took off towards the small town, speeding past other bandit Skiffs and Sandworms. Lilith took out her ECHO and contacted Brick.

"Hey Bri—"

"In the middle of a thing…" The Berserker grunted as ungodly screeching cried in the background.

"Sorry." She ended the call and contacted Axton, "Axton?"

The Commando yawned over the frequency, "Ye-who…Oh hey Lilith, long time no talk. I found a new recruit, I think yo—"

"Axton I hate to keep this short, but I need you to get Brick and Salvador to Sanctuary ASAP. It's an emergency." She stared out to the horizon, seeing Oasis coming into view.

"What about the ne—"

"You can tell them about it later okay?"

"Fine. And uh…about Salvador…He uh hasn't been to The Nortia in a month, hasn't contacted us or anythin'…" Axton murmured sheepishly.

"WELL THAT'S JUST…" The Siren took a deep breath, "Cool it Lilith…Just get to Sanctuary."

"Don't worry Lilith, we got this."

"Right." She hung up the call and immediately hopped off the Skiff as it docked in Oasis. The Firehawk dashed towards the Fast-Travel and teleported herself to the floating city.

(line)

Upon rematerializing in Pierce station, Lilith noticed two figures pacing out into the square. She ran after them and called for them to stop. The two figure turned around, none other than Axton and Brick themselves. Both men looked slightly more worn out but more alive at the same time. Their faces were hard with worry lines as they looked over the Siren's slouching posture.

"What's wrong Lil?" Brick asked gruffly and patted a hand on her shoulder.

"I'll explain when we get everyone back together." She led the two into the HQ where Tannis was typing away on her holo-screen. Frantic steps ran down the stairs and a girl all but crashed into the group.

"Ohkay...Ohkay, surveyors all up and ready. Everything is online...Oh wow, haven't seen you two in a while." It was Gaige, she flashed a quick smile before looking back at her upgraded arm.

A moment of near silence passed as the Mechromancer tapped away at the light screen over her arm then paused.

"Wait..." She lifted her head, "AXTON?! BRICK?! OH MY GOSH! I thought you two were just gonna stay up in space! Why the HELL are you back here?"

"Lilith needed us." Brick answered curtly and pointed over to the Siren who was busy chatting on her ECHO.

"What? Like an...emergency? Lilith! Why didn't you tell me there was trouble! I totally could have handled it!" The spunky young woman huffed and crossed her arms. But Lilith ignored her as she quickly spoke over the frequency.

"-we'll be right there Salvador...Just hold out okay?" The Firehawk ended the call and looked at the group, "Trouble in Ovejas. Let's go." The other Vault Hunters nodded and followed their leader out to the Fast-Travel and to the Gunzerker's home village.

(line)

Salvador huffed exhaustedly as he reloaded his guns. He stood strong at the front gates of the village and waited for the next wave of bandits to wreak havoc. The chilling screams of psychos echoed through the hot desert air and the Gunzerker tensed his fingers on the triggers of his assault rifles. Wavering silhouettes of bandits appeared over the horizon in a cloud of dust. As soon as the first masked enemy came close enough, Salvador pumped enough lead to level a small town. Bodies fell at his feet and he laughed at the carnage.

Suddenly his guns clicked empty, and the Vault Hunter gasped as he tried to reload, only to find he was out of ammo. In the distance more bandits charged towards the town.

"Shit. Shit!" Salvador cursed as he cracked his knuckles, preparing to fight his way through the oncoming horde.

"Need help?" Axton laughed as he tossed his turret out into the field. Lilith Phased herself forward and set of a large flaming nova that ignited a large portion of the bandits. Gaige summoned DT and grabbed onto a rail she had implemented on his back that carried her closer to battle. She pulled out her conference call and fired wildly. Brick sprinted into the crowd and drew his hammer before smashing the surrounding Psychos in a single swing.

The Gunzerker fell to his knees in pure happiness and exhaustion as his friends cleared out the remaining bandits. The other Vault Hunters gathered around their friend. Gaige pulled out a water bottle from her storage deck and offered it to the collapsed man. Salvador gratefully accepted the drink and downed it in just a few gulps.

"So this is where you've been..." Axton looked at the town in shambles, "I thought Ovejas had more...People." The short truxican grunted and clenched his jaw and rose back to his feet. He sighed harshly and looked over his shoulder at his crumbling home, obviously distraught. Everyone gathered around closer to their friend, patting his shoulders and offering soft words of solace. They knew something must have happened for him to suddenly lose all spark.

A door creakily opened on one of the larger, more stable buildings. A short old woman scuttled out with a shotgun in her hands and an oversized poncho on her shoulders.

"Abuelita! Go back inside!" Salvador ordered the elderly woman, but she just sputtered something back in Spanish and tottered up to the group of Vault Hunters. Everyone fell silent as the woman slowly paced back and forth, her wrinkled face scrunched in thought and her knobby fingers tapping the barrel of her gun. Her eyes opened to reveal milky cataracts that still seemed to stare deeply into everyone's soul. She hummed to herself and stopped in front of Lilith before violently yanking her down to her level. The old woman placed her hands on either side of the Siren's face and ran her fingers over Lilith's features.

She clicked her tongue a few times and smiled, "Oh so these are your friends? This one's powerful, a real force of nature" she moved on to Brick, and with surprising strength she pulled him down as well before feeling his face, "Really strong...but really kind..." Gaige knelt down for the woman, "Spunky, enthusiastic, impulsive, intelligent..." Axton dropped to a knee as well before feeling the woman slap a hand hard against his cheek, "Reckless...but loyal" she hobbled back to her grandson and commented something in Spanish. The Vault Hunters all looked quizzically at the two.

Salvador flailed a little and exclaimed something back to his grandmother only to receive a light rap to the temple and a look of "don't test me". The Vault Hunters all snickered at the exchange. The small elderly woman turned back to the group and smiled again.

"So you're the little group of heroes my nieto talks about? I've got a bit of a problem."

"Abuela! I told you I could handle it!"

"Don't raise your voice."

"We're kind of in a rush miss..." Lilith interrupted.

"Rosalita, and don't interrupt! You want my lil'Salvador's help? You help me first."

"Abue-"

"There's a bandit stronghold a few miles out. I need you wipe them out." The little old woman cooed, "I'll reward you." The Vault Hunters all sighed, knowing that they really had no choice in the matter.

(line)

"So Sal, what exactly happened?" Axton questioned as he bashed the butt of his Scout Veruc into a psycho's mask.

"Abuela said about...DIE PENDEJO!" The Gunzerker punched a marauder in the gut before firing buckshot in his face, "About a month after I had gone out, some bandits came into town and really started stirring up shit."

"Uh-huh, then what?" Gaige asked and sliced her claws through a midget.

"Bloodshed. The bandits came in an killed anyone able to fight. Abuela took the kids and hid." Salvador stopped for a moment and unleashed explosive Hell on a small band of rats, "She said for months the bandits held control of the rest of Ovejas, until they got bored a month ago and killed almost everyone else. That's when I showed up and I've been fighting them off ever since..."

The group let out a collective "oh".

"Why didn't ya ask for help?" Brick slammed his hammer down on a nomad.

"You all were out doing things. And I've handled worse." He shrugged and ripped off a bandit's arm.

"Salvador next time you're in trouble, contact us. That's what we're all here for." Lilith patted the truxican on the shoulder, "That and that way we wouldn't have been running around like chickens with their heads cut off."

The Gunzerker huffed and sized up the damage, "Well thanks. I think we're done here."

As if by fate, Salvador's ECHO went off, "Nieto? Nieto? Did you clean up the mess?" Rosalita crowed over the frequency.

"Si abuela. I'm coming home now."

"No no no! Go with your little hunters!"

"But abue-"

"No! You go with your friends! You always get so happy when you talk about them-"

"Abu-"

"So go with your friends! I can handle myself, I did it for the months you were gone."

"I thought you said the bandits _just_ showed up."

"Go with your friends! And don't come back until it's all fixed! And bring back that girl you talk about! What was her name? Emily? El-"

"OKAY ADIOS ABUELITA!" Salvador fumbled with his ECHO and tucked it away in his deck, looking severely flustered. The other Vault Hunters all chuckled at their companion's obvious discomfort. They all took turns poking fun at the embarrassed truxican.

(line)

With Salvador re-recruited into the group, it was time to turn attention to some of the more...complicated Vault Hunters Maya, Zer0, and Krieg.

Everyone knew that the Phaselocker in question was doing something related to Sirens, although they weren't sure what since she hardly ever contacted them. Though everyone was certain she wasn't dead, no, Maya was too smart for that.

Krieg immediately vanished after the group had split, and no one really cared enough to look for him. Sad as it was, it was true.

Zer0 had also vanished without a trace, but no one really doubted he would. After all, the assassin was more of a loner type and now that everything was done and over with, who could blame him for probably high tailing it off Pandora and towards more profitable work?

The group traveled back to Sanctuary to try and figure out a way to get a hold of the last three Vault Hunters.

(line)

"Well…" Gaige huffed and leaned back in a chair, kicking her feet up on the counter, "We're gonna need to get Maya first."

"Yeah, but where would we find her?" Lilith began tracing circles on the holo-map, creating small waypoints, "I mean, all these places have sorts of Eridian things…but who knows where she could be?"

The group gathered around the table and stared at the waypoints.

"Didn't you call her?" Axton asked. The Firehawk's face slacked with a 'no-shit' look.

"Why can't we find Krieg first?" Brick questioned.

"Because Brick," Lilith began to snap, "We have less of a clue where he is, and even if we did find him we _all_ know that he listens to Maya."

"Cause he loooooooooooooooooooooves her~" The Mechromancer sang and giggled. Everyone looked at the teen quizzically, "What? He totally does."

The Siren shook her head and sighed, "Anyways we—"

Another tremor echoed from the ground below and a distress signal sounded over the holo-map, its location in the Caustic Caverns.

"I know where we're going then." Lilith huffed and brushed a hair out of her face. Everyone quickly picked themselves up and headed out to the Caverns.

(line)

As soon as the group reconstructed in the Caverns they immediately noticed something off. The lakes of burning acid had been drained, carcasses of numerous swarms of varkids had been all but exploded, scattered remains of crystalisks littered the rocky ground, and all the old Dahl mining equipment had been twisted into unnatural shapes. Axton whistled in amusement and chuckled to himself.

"Well shit, impressive work Maya." He smirked.

"How do you know it was her?" Gaige raised a brow.

"Well who else could cause this much damage without lifting a finger?"

"This isn't a good sign…" Lilith declared, calling everyone's attention, "This kind of destruction is only possible with Eridium." The Vault Hunters all exchanged glances, "it means that Maya could be tampering with the stuff and well…we all know what it can do to a Siren." There was a murmur of agreement amongst the group.

"We need to find her, fast."

A soft cry sounded in the distance, sending everyone into a sprint towards the origin. As the group ran, they took notice of the drastically different surroundings. All the ruins in the Caverns were glowing a bright purple. Fissures cracked the ground and slowly oozed out slag. Geysers of acid suddenly began to erupt out in the dried up lakebeds. Rocks fell from the Cavern ceiling and really tested the Vault Hunters' reflexes.

As the group drew closer, the cries became louder and sounded more and more like their other Siren friend.

"AGH! SHIT! HELP!" The Phaselocker hollered and wriggled her fingers from under a pile of rocks. The group all surrounded the pile and looked at the struggling appendage.

"Maya?" Salvador asked and lightly nudged his foot against the Siren's hand.

"No, it's fricking Saint Nicholas! YES IT'S MAYA. NOW GET ME OUT OF HERE."

"Can't you like…Phaselock out of there?" Axton questioned.

"Great idea. Yeah, not like I tried that first. Turns out there's some raw Eridium in these things. Didja hear those geysers? Yep, that's what happened. Now just dig me out, please."

The Vault Hunters got to work digging their friend out of the pile. It took a little over an hour, but they got her out nonetheless.

"Thanks guys…you all here cause of the tremors?" Maya said catching her breath. The group collectively nodded as the ground shook again.

"That one wasn't a tremor guys…at least, not a normal one…" Lilith mumbled as the ground quaked violently.

"Oh great." Maya sighed sarcastically and positioned herself into a fighting stance. Four Badass Pyre threshers came rising from the ground, their skin blazing as their tendrils swayed about. The Siren smirked and stared down the small group of giants, "So guys, wanna see what I've been learning all those months?" She grabbed a small shard of raw Eridium off the ground and held it up in her left hand.

Suddenly Maya's tattoos began to radiate a rich indigo as the shard dissolved in her palm and two flaming, slag-purple wings unfurled from her back. Her eyes glowed with a harsh ferocity as she thrust out her palm and commanded "STAY PUT!" A large phase orb entrapped all four giant threshers and slowly began to collapse inward. The creatures all shrieked helplessly and Maya closed her eyes as she exhaled slowly. The phase orb was soon enveloped in all the elements, only causing the beasts to shriek louder. Their flesh slowly corroded away as electricity, fire, and slag danced through their wounds. The Siren raised her hand higher and twitched her fingers causing the ground around the orb to crack and rise around the phase. Rocks began to impale the threshers until they ceased moving. She threw her hand down, hoping to finish off the creatures, but fate had something else in mind.

As if the Phaselock had a mind of its own, the orb shot far into the distance and exploded like a nuclear bomb, leaving behind a huge crater. Maya's eyes widened as she looked at her glowing hand and clenched her fist.

"Damn it..." She cursed as her power subsided. The others all stared in awe at their companion.

"HOLY SHIT MAYA! I NEVER KNEW YOU COULD...WOW!" Gaige cheered.

"No...I...I...I couldn't control it..." The Siren began to hyperventilate, "That's not the first time either...It's been getting worse and worse with the days...what if...I...oh god." Objects began to levitate , along with the Mechomancer and the Commander.

Lilith stepped up and placed a hand on her friend's shoulder, "Hey...I know it's kinda scary...not knowing what's happening. But hey, we're Vault Hunters, we can handle it..."

The Phaselocker took a deep breath and regained her composure and let down her friends, "Sorry...I just got a little frazzled."

The two other Vault Hunters just gave weak smiles and assured her it was okay. The Firehawk turned her attention back to the group, "Alright, now let's try to think about where the others are..."

"Krieg's in Slabtown." Brick declared, everyone looked at the bandit king, "I sent him there when we were going to hunt Vaults. Someone has to look over those idiots."

"Woah woah woah..." Lilith waved her hands in front of her, "You mean you've _known_ where Krieg has been this entire time?!"

"Yep, pretty much."

"And you didn't-I dunno-say anything?!" The Firehawk's eyes glowed with fury.

"You never asked, and when I tried to tell ya...you all shot me down."

Everyone else muttered in agreement with Brick. The Phasewalker sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Alright...you said Slabtown right? Okay..."

Lather, rinse, repeat, and everyone takes Brick's advice to find Krieg in Slabtown.

(line)

The sound of bandits screeching echoed through the evening air as a small mob of Psychos chased a lone skag into the distance. Blood was smeared across the steel walls and severed heads of the enemy Sawteeth placed around the shanty town on pikes.

"I _love_ what he's done to the place!" Brick laughed and poked one of the disembodied heads. The others just tried their best to ignore the gruesome scenery. As they walked through the town it was obvious that the Slabs must have been out doing what bandits do best since none were coming out to attack.

"So...How do we know that Krieg will even remember us?" Axton questioned and nudged Salvador.

"Eh, I dunno. We hope for the best?" The short truxican shrugged and kicked a severed arm off one of the many cliffs.

"I have an idea." Lilith smiled and eyed up her Siren companion. Maya immediately began regretting joining back up with her friends.

(line)

"_Looks like the boys are all out again, probably those tremors getting everyone riled up._" Krieg's subconscious sighed as his motor half picked at the dirt collected under his nails. He had been in charge of the Slabs for four months now and was utterly enjoying himself. He could do what he wanted, kill who he wanted, and no one would chastise him for it. In fact the other bandits all cheered on his brutality, especially towards those in the Cauldron. He loved it, he loved the power he had over an entire bandit clan, for once he felt important; even more so since Brick specifically requested that he was the one to watch after the Berserker's crew.

"I thirst the bloodshed. I crave the carnage..." Krieg grumbled and rolled his neck, feeling the Slab crown shift uncomfortably over his face, temporarily blinding him. The sound of someone entering the throne room startled the Psycho and he hastily removed the scrap-metal crown.

"OH MEAT DUKE! WE HAVE FOUND A BLASPHEMER IN THE KINGDOM!" A marauder beckoned and forced forward Maya, whom looked utterly terrified.

Krieg's eyes grew wide and he drew his Buzz Axe then revved it into full spin. He hopped down from his loft and slowly approached the pair. His head twitched wildly and a low grumble resonated from his throat.

"_Oh man...you DO remember her! I mean, how could we forget her? Oh man she's just as beautiful as ever. Come on man, we can do this. Let's let her know we remember her. Let's show her we're so much better than before."_ The inner Krieg urged as the outer side tightened his grip on the Axe.

"H-Hiya Kr-"

"SILENCE!" The marauder kicked the Siren down to the ground and Krieg howled in rage as he sliced his Axe through the bandit in one swift motion. His shoulders dropped and he looked at the woman slowing rising to her feet. A wave of calmness overcame him and all he could do is stare at the Vault Hunter in front of him, noticing how she was staring back like a terrified child. His breaths were ragged and forced, he gritted his teeth growled again while he tried to speak his mind.

"Mmmm...MaaaaaAAyyyahhhh..." Krieg grumbled and lightly bopped his masked forehead to hers and growled softer.

"N-nice to s-ee...you...too..." Maya mumbled, "Krieg...we need your help. Wanna help?"

"_They need us...They. Need. US. Holy shit."_

The Psycho leapt back and raised his Buzz Axe over his head, "THE MEAT ALWAYS AIDS THE RIDERS OF CARNAGE!" he howled and smiled wickedly under his mask.

"I'll take that as a yes." The Phaselocker grinned.

(line)

The other Vault Hunters stood outside the throne room, exchanging nervous glances.

"Alright Axton, get ready to pay up." Gaige cooed and poked the Commando in the chest.

"No no no, you're going to be the one paying." Axton laughed.

The large garage door slid upwards with Maya exiting and Krieg in tow. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, except a certain Commando whom grumbled and fished out $100 from his storage deck and handed it to the Mechromancer.

"He's in, let's go find Zer0." Maya smiled with a nod. Salvador and Brick approached their other violence-loving partner and patted his back. Krieg straightened up a bit and smiled once more under his mask, feeling something strange stirring inside.

"_They...Cared?_" The Psycho in turn grumbled outwardly and shuffled awkwardly.

Lilith glanced up at Krieg, "Welcome back." She turned away and quickly lead the group back to Sanctuary.

(line)

Tannis had really outdone herself this time as she explained the situation to the other person in the room. It had been a hassle, having to trace through thousands of public, private, restricted, and dead servers to finally find her target.

"...and that's my concl-"

"T-TANNIS! WE NEED-" Lilith stopped midsentence upon spotting the other figure in the room. It was Zer0, standing tall and proud like always. He looked over at the Siren and projected a bright red "?" on his visor. The other Vault Hunters all gathered in the room and stared at the Assassin who now cocked his head.

"WOAH! Zer0! Where have you been man?" Axton burst out.

"My job is private/ but this is way more urgent/ good to see you all." The Number replied almost sounding amused.

"Tannis! How did...what did..." The Firehawk huffed and crossed her arms.

"I've been keeping tabs on whoever I can." The scientist smirked and leaned back.

There was a collective silence as the tension built. Now that everyone was gathered...Wait.

"Augh...You all are too loud..." Mordecai grumbled stumbling down the stairs tiredly, "Well Lil, everyone is here, what did you need to tell us all?"

Everyone looked at the leader of the Raiders expectantly. Lilith shuffled in place and looked to everyone, opening and closing her mouth a few times before deciding on the best way to tell everyone their current situation.

"Guys...Pandora is..._crumbling_."


	3. Playing an Away Game at Home

_**a/n: First of all, Happy Mercenary Day! **_  
_**I hope everyone has had a fantastic holiday.**_  
_**Sorry for not updating faster **_  
_**as there is no rest for the wicked (and by wicked i mean full-time student with a part-time job)**_  
_**But I hope you all enjoy this installment.**_  
_**After this the chapter should be getting longer and almost follow a bit of an **_  
_**episodic approach,**_  
_**(you'll see what I mean)**_

* * *

"What do you mean Pandora's _crumbling_?!" Gaige all but screeched as she flailed her arms, "After everything this place has been through like drilling, and opening Vaults, and all out robot war, and and and what?! Like it decides _now_ to just clock out on us! Bullshit! So much bullshit! UGH!"

Even if the reaction was a little dramatic, everyone else felt relatively the same way about the whole situation. After all, in just the short five years that the Vault Hunters had occupied the near barren planet, a maelstrom of catastrophe had all but taken over. The group all muttered amongst themselves for a moment before looking at their leader.

Lilith glanced over at Tannis, "Could you share what you found?"

The archeologist's face brightened slightly as she called up several light screens. Short clips of the surface of the planet cracking and exploding played on loops. The scientist cleared her throat and began her current explanation.

"Everyone, as you know, it appears our home is falling apart. Why? I am not quite sure, but I have found a few interesting things."

Everyone looked at Tannis expectantly.

"While you all were out doing unimportant business, I kept up with my research on Pandora. Add that to some samples I had received and some new notes and I found out that at some point, many many many millennia ago Pandora was once a super planet."

"So what happened?" Mordecai grumbled and scratched Talon's neck.

"That's what I do not know. The samples I have seem to show some sort of wear, but they do match up with Pandora's mineral compositions."

The group just looked at the scientist with blank expressions.

"So by my calculations, we're all royally screwed." Tannis finished a little more cheerier than most would have liked.

Maya stepped forward with a tattered book in her hands and held it out to the goggle-wearing woman, "Here, I found a few things that might help out with the current situation."

"Quite...Alright, everyone give me an hour or so to analyze this any maybe find a way to fix everything."

The Vault Hunters slowly filed out of the head quarters and walked over to the one place they could truly relax for a little and catch up on their past adventures. The crew chattered loudly amongst each other as they entered the bar. It was just as they had left it, thank God nothing about this place had changed.

Some of the bar's regulars all looked at the horde of Hunters in awe, others cheered, and a few began cowering in fear. Moxxi however smiled brightly and waved slightly as if to say "welcome back". Everyone gathered around one of the booths and waved for a round of drinks.

"Be right there!" The bartender warmly cheered back.

The group began bragging about their recent successes, flashing new guns, and showing off some new gear. Everyone seemed pretty boisterous in their claims, everyone except a particular Hunter.

"So what about you Mordecai? Where have you been?" Brick patted his old companion on the back.

Mordecai huffed and adjusted his goggles, "Do you really want to know?"

"Hell yeah we do!" Gaige chirped, "It's gotta be interesting, seeing that Lilith always runs off there."

The Siren in question quickly grew red and Mordecai scratched his neck, "Well, if you gotta know. After everything went down I decided to finally try and get what I deserve on the sand seas. After all, you guys found that secret treasure and what not. So why couldn't I?"

"So...You were essentially a pirate?" Maya snickered.

"No I wa-"

"He was totally a pirate. Stole a large skiff, fixed it up, named it the Bloodwing. He even has the hat and everything." Lilith laughed.

"I do not!" Mordecai huffed and crossed his arms. The rest of the Vault Hunters all laughed.

"Hey hey, I have an interesting story for you all." Axton boasted, everyone looked at the Commando, "I do indeed. It's how I recruited a new Vault Hunter."

"You mean _we_ amigo." Salvador corrected as he propped his boots up on the table.

"Yeah, we helped as much as you did." Brick slightly sneered.

"Details, details. Point is about right after we all split from Pandora I got a distress signal." The Commando began.

"He means, he was channel surfing on the ECHOnet." The Berserker scoffed.

"Whatever, anyways, it was coming from the main Dahl base. Major Sarah Hoolihan to be executed! Dahl's most talented, smartest, dare I say most beautiful, tactician. Yes I worked with her for a long time and she was amazing!"

"Wait wasn't that the name of your ex?" Lilith mumbled.

"So when I-"

"WE. WE WERE THERE." The Gunzerker stressed.

"Fine, when _we-_you happy now Sal-when we saw the broadcast. We knew we had to intervene."

"It _was_ pretty awesome. Guns a blazin', soldiers scramblin', hah yeah." Brick chuckled.

"And then I found her. Scared to death in front of the firing squad. I ran in, saved her and well..." Axton didn't notice his companions stop listening and focus their attention to a new figure. The Commando felt a pair of arms drape over his shoulders and he froze.

"Oh? So you're going to skip the part where you nearly begged me to join you guys? Or how I wasn't fucking scared?" Sarah rapped her knuckles against her ex's temple.

"Glad to see you found your way here..." The ex-soldier hissed through his teeth.

The other Vault Hunters just stared at the Tactician.

"So these are your friends? The ones you talked so much about. Nice to meet you, I'm Sarah Hoolihan, Ex-Dahl Officer, Ex-Convict, _Ex-_wife." The platinum blonde saluted with a smile. The group instantly became a frenzy of questions that swirled around the new recruit. Everyone poked and prodded at the ex-wife that their companion had raved about.

"Alright, eleven. We have eleven people against who knows how many. And a planet that still falling apart." Lilith bitterly snickered.

Sarah took a seat next to her ex and folded her hands, "So if I'm correct, you guys are having one hell of a time trying to hold everything together."

Maya nodded, "yeah that's about it. War on the horizon, planet falling apart, thousands of Vaults..."

"Well, I'm willing to do anything to help you all. I know a thing or two about defending the places and people you love." The tactician scanned the group with a slight smile, catching everyone sending glances to others.

"THE RAPTURE WILL NOT SINK THE BLOODY SAVIOURS!" Krieg bellowed and twitched. The Raiders all fell silent at their crazed companion. Maya smiled and her eyes brightened a little.

"Yeah. What Krieg said." She laughed and patted his arm. Gaige fist pumped and hooted, trying to raise morale.

Not a moment too soon, Moxxi sauntered up to the overcrowded booth and laid out an array of pizzas, alcoholic beverages, and other bar-type appetizers. The Vault Hunters instantly dove into the feast, continuing to share stories between bites. The aroma of pizza brought peace to everyone, a comfort of finally being home again. The pumping bass lines soothed the group and released the tension of the ongoing catastrophe. For a moment, everything was alright.

By the time the crew had finished devouring the meal, everyone was nearly passed out on one another in a mess of limbs. The shrill chirping of the group's ECHOs in synch startled them awake, with guns drawn out of habit.

"Everyone, I think I know what's going on." The archeologist huffed over the united frequency," Hurry back to HQ."

* * *

A curious buzz floated around the Vault Hunters as they all crammed their bodies back into the crowded lower level of the headquarters. Light screens projected several Eridian ruins as Tannis took a deep breath to mentally prepare herself to speak in front of the crowd.

"Everyone. It seems that this natural disaster is directly linked to the ancient Eridians. With the new knowledge from Maya's research in the ruins scattered across this part of Pandora, it seems that this is not the first time the planet has gone into such...how should I put it? Chaos? No, that's an understatement."

"Cut to the chase wouldja?" Salvador grumbled, a few others murmured in agreement.

"Alright! Savages. Goodness. Any ways, this is not the first time the planet has cracked. It appears that dozens of centuries ago the planet had split, and even before that, and etcetera. Turns out, this phenomena appears to be a planet-wide defense mechanism. A very slow defense mechanism, but very efficient. By my newest calculations, it appears that our Pandora began rupturing about six years ago."

"When Steele opened the Vault..." Lilith commented.

"Precisely, that is what started everything." The scientist turned a light screen towards the Vault Hunters, showing a map of the recent rifts on the planet. Large cracks in the surface seemed to spider web out from every Hyperion outpost on the planet, "And this seems to be the goal, to completely remove any Hyperion source from the planet."

Everyone exchanged glances, mumbling to one another.

"And this is bad because?" Mordecai pondered aloud.

"These faults could easily split the planet it two. Such a disaster would probably wipe out all life as we know it!" Tension thickly filled the air.

"So what do we do?" Maya asked, "I mean, how do we stop something so massive?"

Tannis slumped over, her face twisted in confusion, "I'm not sure if you can."

The Firehawk stepped forward, "But we'll be damned if we don't try. Alright everyone, listen up, we don't have a lot of time, but I have an idea." The Vault Hunters all gave their undivided attention to the Siren.

"Brick, Salvador, Axton, and...and..." Lilith waggled her finger towards Sarah, "ah..."

"Sarah." The Tactician corrected.

"Yeah Sarah. You all head back up onto The Nortia, there have to be some chunks of Pandora floating around. There has to be some sort of clue out there."

The four mentioned all looked at one another as if to be telepathically formulating a plan of attack already.

"Gaige think you can travel out to the Blight and run some analysis's?"

The Mechromancer smirked, "Of course!"

"Zer0, would you mind traveling with her? I'm pretty sure whatever tech you have on you can prove useful."

"That doesn't sound fun/ it's not even a challenge/ but I guess I must." The assassin robotically sighed and flashed an :/ on his visor.

"Sorry bud, there might be some fun out there, who knows?" Lilith turned to Maya, "Since you seem to have visited all these ruins, I'm leaving it up to you to try and find out _exactly _how the Eridians are involved."

"I have an idea where to start, in my texts there was a lot of mention of some sort of city beyond the sea that housed some sort of item. It's not much, but it's a start." The Phaselocker shrugged.

"Good enough, Mordecai can get you out there fast." The Phasewalker looked up at Krieg, whom had distanced himself from the group. She pursed her lips, knowing the Psycho wasn't going to be much help.

"_Yeah...we should jus-_"

"Uhm, Lilith. I'd like Krieg to accompany me on my mission." Maya stepped in, "After all. Someone's going to need to help me if I manage to get trapped under rocks again."

"_...Did she just?_" The Psycho's subconscious gasped.

"Alright, you heard her Krieg. You get to help Maya." Lilith looked over the group one last time, "Alright, you all have your jobs to do. Get to it!"

The Vault Hunters quickly scattered, eager to try and halt the destruction of their planet.

The Firehawk smiled to herself and made her way to where Athena was being held. After all, who knew? She might need the Gladiator's help.

* * *

As Maya, Mordecai, and Krieg loaded the Skiff for their journey, not much was said. The Siren sighed and hoisted the last of her ammo onto the deck and wiped the sweat from her brow. She looked over at the Psycho, who was having a bit of a staring contest with Talon as Mordecai rigged the sail. He glanced her way and cocked his head like he usually did. Maya smiled unknowingly for a moment before catching herself and looked down at the ammo in her hands, attempting to look busy.

"_Hah...cute. Looks like she might have an eye for us._" The saner half chuckled, the motor portion of him subtly hefted his shoulder as if laughing softly, "_Tell her thank you_."

Krieg lumbered up towards Maya, and growled in his throat to catch her attention. The Siren looked up at her companion, God he was standing a little too close.

"_Say thank you._"

Krieg threw up his hands and roared, "NIPPLE SALADS!" Maya gave a nervous smile and a weak thumbs up.

"_...close enough._"

* * *

_**a/n: **_

_**So, how was it.**_  
_**A whole lot of talking. Yes, but it was the only way to get the ball rolling.**_  
_**Now for what I meant by episodic. **_  
_**As you can tell we have four groups. (I've been playing too much tales from the borderlands)**_  
_**Three of which are going to get more attention.**_  
_**So for the next part of this story, each chapter is going to be following a group.**_  
_**Hopefully that cleared everything up.**_

_**Side note: Do you know how hard its going to be to NOT ship Sarah and Axton? **_  
_**And if you want to know what went down with Sarah read No White Flags**_  
_**I also added some shameless KriegMaya stuff BECAUSE REASONS.**_


	4. In Orbit

_**A/n: Hello my lovely Legends! Ryzi back with another chapter of Legendary! Sorry about the absence. I thought that during my winter semester at college I would have more free-time. And I did. But it turns out that the Writer's-block monster wanted to attack. This chapter took way too long to put out and again I am very, very sorry. But sit back, relax, and read on!**_

* * *

Once the space-bound Vault Hunters all rematerialized on the starship's main deck, everyone quickly gathered around the large hologram system and began processing their next plan of attack. Axton pulled up a map of Pandora and its surrounding planets. The four observed the hundreds of planets, satellites, asteroids, and other space garbage orbiting around in the single system. What felt like an eternity of silence was finally broken when Salvador groaned out a, "I don't even know what to look for."

"Well something that looks like it could have been a part of Pandora? I dunno." Axton shrugged.

"You mean like an asteroid or some shit?" Brick enlarged a holographic space rock.

"Remember, this happened pretty much forever ago, for all we know they could be no longer existent." Sarah added.

"Glad to see you're so optimistic..." The Commando grumbled.

"Hey, someone here has to be realistic."

The four refocused on the floating map in the center of the room, still very unsure where to begin, and even less sure how worthwhile this whole endeavor was. Time was of the essence and there was not a single step that could be taken.

Brick stared at the little blue planets hovering around his head, poking at a few feeling rather irritated. He had always hated these things. The projections only swarmed him more, causing the Berserker to swipe his arms out into the main map and scatter everything. All the celestial objects bounced around the deck and began disappearing.

"BRICK!" Axton cried as he attempted to sort out the holo-map.

"Damn it, my bad." Brick waved a hand again, not realizing he was continuing to scramble the map.

Salvador just cackled at the sight of a dozen floating lights crashing around the room while Sarah rubbed the bridge of her nose in annoyance. The Tactician raised a hand and swiped downwards, dismissing the projection. Everything fell silent once more and the group just exchanged defeated glances. The Gunzerker just kept laughing however.

"What's so funny?" Sarah looked over at the dwarf for an answer, but all she got was the truxican flailing his arms and making a strange expression.

"Everyone's goin' loco over all this. Thinkin' Pandora's some soft planet. Pah! I grew up here. And just like us Pandorans, the planet can take a beating." Salvador snorted

"Wha-"

"I think I get it..." Axton murmured.

"If there's anything I know about Pandora, it's that everything is big, slow, and obnoxious." The short Vault Hunter smirked and cracked his knuckles. Brick nodded and looked at the Commando who also nodded. Sarah glanced at the three men and raised a brow.

"Sorry, I don't follow." She sighed and scrunched her face.

The three said nothing as Axton pulled up the holo-map once more and began typing something away on a light screen. The map flickered a few times before it arranged a list of several planets. The male Vault Hunters all began chattering amongst themselves and occasionally glanced at the ex-Major.

"What? What is it?" Sarah began to grow impatient. Not once had she ever been ignored so blatantly.

The Commando returned to the list and began weeding out options without a word. The other two gave their own input for each planet that was sorted. Sarah gritted her teeth and balled her fists, this was getting ridiculous.

"Seriously...Tell me what's going on."

"Okay I think we got this." Axton turned the screen to reveal four planets, "These are planets we've visited that all have a few things in common."

"...Okay, what?"

"Traces of Eridium." Axton started.

"Pandoran-like creatures." Brick continued.

"And everything is extremely excessive." Salvador finished.

"And you all had to ignore me because?"

"Dramatic suspense?" The Commando nervously rubbed the back of his head with a chuckle while his bulkier companions shook their heads. Sarah slumped back and crossed her arms looking rather unamused. The room fell silent for a moment.

"Whatever. What are these planets we're looking at?" The Tactician sighed.

Axton enlarged the first planet, "This is Terrafloris, a planet home to big ass trees, humidity, swamps, and cannibals. Salvador was there for a week."

"Si, lots of Eridium. Haha those cannibals man, they really know how to bite!" The dwarf rolled up his sleeve to reveal a crudely stitched set of puncture wounds in his shoulder. Everyone else looked away.

"I'll happily go back!" Salvador chuckled

"Gross, anyways. It has some major Eridium deposits, similar to the Blight on Pandora. Next up is Crux." The next digital planet was enhanced.

"...Axton that's a gas planet." Sarah huffed, Brick just laughed.

"Nah. It's just cloudy. Dirt and clouds. That's all it is, except for some ruins and shit. "The Berserker commented.

The Commando smirked and brought up the next planet, "Nacon, we've only touched down on this planet once, but it's insane. Creatures that walk in and out of existence, floating islands, strange explosions...It's dangerous, but a real spectacle."

"Ooh! Dibs on goin' back! There's a big ass beast there I have to punch." Brick laughed.

"And this last one?" Sarah enlarged the planet.

"Enyo, another ruins planet. However these ruins resemble a temple or something."

"Alright, I'll head to this one. Survey can cover a lot." The tactician scanned over the image.

"Looks like I got Crux then." Axton seemed to sigh.

"Alright, when do we head out?" Brick cracked his knuckles.

"Tomorrow, we'll each have to tackle a planet."

The two other men cheered while Sarah just stared fixatedly on the hologram of Enyo in front of her, something in her gut told her that this next mission could very well be her last.

* * *

An hour had passed and the Vault Hunters had divvyed up the work on who had to tackle what planet. Salvador practiced throwing a few punches in the "dedicated sparring room"-which was actually some sort of Hyperion Hall of Fame that the Vault Hunters enjoyed destroying every last piece of yellow and white artifact-in the lower decks. Brick did repetition after repetition of curl-ups, sit-ups, and push-ups. Axton tinkered on his turret, occasionally glancing up at his ex-wife whom was working on the computer.

"What're you doing? Shouldn't you be working on Survey?" The Commando spoke up.

"I am." Sarah digistructed her surveyor drone and linked a cable from its hull to the small computer-like device in front of her, "I'm uploading all your information on Enyo...which isn't a lot."

Another silence surrounded the two. Axton resumed his work on his turret, trying to clear his thoughts and focus on the coming exhibition. But he just couldn't, there was one nagging question in the back of his mind.

"Why haven't you commandeered the mission yet?" He blurted out, sounding a little more bitter than he anticipated. Sarah paused her work and turned to her ex.

"Because it's not _my_ mission Axton. It's-"

"It's mine. Right." The Commando cut her off.

"I was going to say _ours_. As in yours, Brick's, Salvador's, and mine. Everyone has their place in this." She explained calmly and continued sorting files. Axton was stunned silent. That was not the reaction he was expecting to get. He was anticipating something more bitter and harsh. He bit his lip in thought, planning his next words carefully, he didn't want to cause any unnecessary tension.

"So...if it were your mission, how would you handle it?" He mentally crossed his fingers. The Tactician uploaded her last file and deconstructed her surveyor. She smiled slightly and breathed out a chuckle.

"Not much different than you did. Like I said Axton, we all have our place. Trust me, I'll step in when I need to." Something flickered in her eyes as he smile widened a fraction.

"So you mean when I royally screw up." Axton laughed.

"Exactly." Sarah returned.

* * *

Salvador sat in the bunk room, cleaning his guns. If there was anything about him that was clean, it was his guns. After all, you can't go on a leaden rampage when a midget's spleen is gumming up your barrel. He polished every part, allowing his mind to wander for once.

He began thinking about the situation that Pandora was essentially falling apart. The Gunzerker had faith that everything would turn out alright in the end. They were Vault Hunters, terrible things always happened! This was no different. Everything was going to be okay.

But something sank in the Truxican's chest. What if they _don't_ find what they're looking for? What would become of his home? No, he couldn't think like that. Thinking about the terrible possibilities only made for terrible choices.

Salvador hopped off his bunk and put his guns back in his storage deck. He needed to get his mind of everything. He needed to spar.

And he knew just the Vault Hunter.

* * *

"One thousand ninety eight…One thousand ninety nine…" Brick huffed as he counted out his remaining one-armed push-ups.

"Brick!"

"Two thousand…" The Berserker rose to his feet as Salvador rounded the corner into the sparring hall.

"Brick, hey, wanna spar?" The Truxican playfully punched the taller man's arm. Brick smirked and cracked his knuckles before raising his fists.

"It'll be a nice cool down." He laughed.

"Awesome!" Salvador immediately charged into the Berserker at full speed, knocking Brick back a step. In return Brick hoisted the Gunzerker off the ground with one hand and slugged him in the jaw. Salvador swung his weight and was able to bite down on his attacker's wrist. Brick instantly released his grip and swung his foot towards his opponent. The Truxican was able to roll out of the way in time and pulled out his brass knuckles. He charged again and landed a forceful punch right in Brick's solar plexus. Brick coughed as the air was knocked out of him.

For a moment the Berserker retreated to the far wall.

"What? Quittin' already?" Salvador taunted.

"Far from it." Brick laughed as he came barreling back with his hammer in hand.

"Oh shit." Salvador quickly leapt away from a swing and paused for a moment too long when the hammer struck his shoulder. The Gunzerker grunted in pain as the joint dislocated itself. He flopped to the mat with a thud, but pushed himself back up. Salvador slammed his good palm against his injured shoulder, hearing it pop when the joint resettled.

Brick tossed his hammer to the side and swung his fist under Salvador's ribs. Salvador ignored the pain and retorted with a swift kick to the shin.

"Hey hey hey! Guys!" Axton called out as he and Sarah ran in to break up the spar, "Not before we head out…sheesh."

"Come on…We'll patch ourselves up, not like we were trying to kill each other. And we were just having fun." Brick mockingly whined.

"Well…I sup—"

"Any other time, this would have been fine." Sarah snapped authoritatively, "But we have planets to investigate, and next to no time to do it. We cannot afford to go in with wounds."

"Bu—"

"No 'buts', you may be able to insta-heal those wounds. But if things had gone farther, I'm fairly certain you both would have been at less than optimal condition to go out. Even with healing."

Everyone looked at the Tactician in awe, "Now clean yourselves up, eat something, and pack whatever you need, then march off to bed. In t-minus six hours we leave for our respective planets. MARCH!" Both Salvador and Brick scrambled to the medical bay. Axton raised a curious brow towards his ex and crossed his arms with a smirk.

"Thought you said I was handling everything well." The Commando said slyly.

"You were, but let's face it. You would have let them go out injured."

"Hey, they said they were fine."

Sarah just rolled her eyes.

* * *

_**A/n: So, also during my winter semester I got involved in a little game called Dragon Age: Origins. If you are not familiar with the game, I suggest you go check it out. It's a story-telling action masterpiece! I hope you all enjoyed and continue to read on as the story unfolds! Thank you all so much for you love and support!**_

_**Don't forget to write!**_

_**-Ryzi**_


	5. It's Not A Good Colour

BEHOLD!  
I am not dead! I successfully kicked my finals in their asses and am returning to work on Legendary!  
I have to admit, this chapter is not exactly the *greatest* by any means.  
But I like to think it shows how much Pandora is changing.  
Anywho. Thank you for being so supportive!  
And shout out to CGAdam for being my beta/editor/best bro for the story

Also, this chapter (and the rest of the story) is dedicated to my good friend Befuddler (he wrote Psychosis Maybe) who was in an accident a few months ago. May he recover quickly.

* * *

The Eridium Blight was strangely quiet. No psychos running and flailing about while screaming profanities. No Bullymongs throwing rocks and bellowing. Not even the occasional rogue Loader-Bot stumbling by. It was utterly dead.

It was also trying Zer0's patience.

"This is no challenge" The Assassin drove his blade into one of the new mineral formations and carved out a chunk the size of his hand, "Not much poses a challenge/ but this? Even less." Collecting rocks was not a challenge. He observed the rock in his palm and analyzed it, sending his data back to Sanctuary. Then tossed the cluster into the deep abyss next to him.

He and Gaige had been at this process for hours: chip away rock shards, analyze, dispose, lather, rinse, repeat. The only "entertainment" was that the spunky Mechromancer had her ECHO playing some sort of punk-rock tunes to keep the awkward silence at bay.

"Ugh, this is so not fun…" Gaige groaned as she kicked a clump of dirt down the deep fissure. "I mean like...Everyone else gets to go out and adventure. Not me! I get stuck on rock duty!" She shook her fists at the sky theatrically. "Is this because of the blender incident, Lilith?!" she yelled at the clouds. "I said I was sorry!"

It was obvious that she was screaming at no one in particular, but her question piqued the Assassin's curiosity. "Blender incident?" Zer0 questioned, a bright "?" bobbing above his visor.

"Oh. Forgot you were here. But yeah, blender incident...I uh...Well…" She rubbed the back of her neck and chuckled nervously, "So it was laundry day, and everything was getting washed, like, EVERYTHING. I see why we have like six washers now, anyways, I had just gotten back from doing some stuff out in the Dust and my socks were filthy, like I'm pretty sure I brought home half the desert with me. Well since all the washing machines were full, and clanging and clattering like they were going to explode...I did what I remember seeing some guy on a movie do."

"Which involved a blender?" Zer0 sounded slightly amused.

"Yeah, I'm getting there. I filled the blender with some water, soap, threw my socks in and pressed 'mix'. It was all fine until it jammed, then kinda...cracked...and...exploded." Gaige finished sheepily, "Lilith really had it in for me and I lost my favorite socks…" she jutted out her lower lip in a pout.

The Assassin just nodded slowly and returned to carving out more Eridium rocks. He stabbed his sword into the stone and prepared himself to drag the blade.

His sword refused to budge.

Zer0 stepped back for a moment and stared at the large stone. He had no trouble before carving out chunks, why now? Once again he wrapped his hands around the hilt of his sword and attempted to move it, but still no luck.

"What is this problem?/ The stones seem harder this time/ I don't understand…" Zer0 exhaled and released his sword.

Gaige looked away from her work and over at her friend. "Zer0? What's up?"

"My sword is stuck." He projected a ":\"over his helm.

The Mechromancer scoffed and hopped to her feet. "Stuck? Pfft, c'mon man, I thought you were stronger than that." She clicked her tongue and walked over to where the sword was trapped. Gaige squinted at the blade, analyzing its position, then furrowed her brows. She grabbed the sword and pulled as hard as she could, but the thing didn't even twitch. Her hands slipped and Gaige went stumbling backwards. Zer0 chuckled softly.

"Ohhhhkay, that really is stuck…"

The two stood there for a moment, staring at the weapon in silence.

"Uhm...try...digistructing it away?" Gaige mumbled and shifted her weight.

Zer0 made a slight movement with his hand and a few pixels flickered around the blade before dispersing. The Assassin tried again, this time the sword glowed and began crackling loudly. The light radiating from it also lit up the stone below it, giving it a bright purple hue.

Suddenly, veins of Eridium began forming around Zer0's katana, creeping up the blade in a slow but clear attempt to consume the weapon.

Gaige's eyes widened. "ZER0! ARE YOU SEEING THIS?! It's like...eating your sword!" She bounced in place.

"Do you think me blind? / I am standing beside you / and it's my weapon," he commented, sarcasm lacing his voice. Zer0 shook his head and attempted to pull the sword out again, he couldn't let some alien rocks take his blade away. This time he tugged and willed the katana to deconstruct. A surge of power crackled through the blade and the rock gave one last blinding flash before shattering.

"Well, that was weird. But totally cool." Gaige leaned back. "Definitely gonna have to tell Tannis that one…" She paused for a moment, thinking quickly on something. "Shit, we still need to find out how far this crack goes…"

With a flick of the wrist, the Mechromancer digistructed two small surveyor drones and began programing some directions. The little robots buzzed and chirped a few times before diving down into the rift.

"When did you get those?/ I don't recall you having / surveyor access." Zer0 looked over the edge to see the drone flying down the rift in opposite directions.

"Sarah let me download the specs for one of her basic bots." Her face lit up. "They're gonna measure how far this crack has gone and send the data back to Tannis so she can ETA our lives."

There was a quick moment of silence.

"You suspect we'll fail?" The assassin crossed his arms, Gaige just shrugged.

"I dunno. I mean, this thing has been going on for like...8 years and no one knew? For all we know this planet could just swallow us right now!"

As if on cue, the ground trembled. Smaller cracks weaved out from the main rift and large Eridium shards pushed through the planet's surface.

"It was an expression!" Gaige groaned and stomped her foot. The ground trembled again, a low bellow roared from inside the rift and the shards began cracking. The two Vault Hunters backed away from the abyss and scanned the area. The breaking shards trembled and began glowing.

"These shards appear to / be those of crystalisk's kind / charged with Eridum." Zer0 commented and drew his sword. The ground shook once more before a horde of crystalisks rose up. Their normally golden colour now replaced with deep violet that seemed to radiate. Each one was the size of the legendary "Blue" from down in the Caustic Caverns. However the beasts trembled in instability and could barely move.

"Ohhhh shit." Gaige's eyes grew wide and she slowly backed up.

"Looks like it's angry / no matter, we've had much worse. / Let's get to work Gaige." Zer0 drew his katana and nodded at the mechromancer.

"Right!" The spunky girl summoned DT and equipped her shotgun. The ground trembled again and the crystalisks stomped challengingly. Gaige let out a battle cry and began firing shell after shell into the oversized monsters as DT swung its claws into the shaky legs, only to get stuck. The robot let out a shrill, distressed chirp and began thrashing around wildly.

Zer0 just shook his head and Gaige made some sort of noise that sounded like a gasp and a scream. She fought her instinct to dash up to her beloved bodyguard and instead motioned for him to deconstruct. DT fizzled in a flash of blue light followed by a loud pop and several pained chirps. The Mechromancer felt her bot's data store itself in her arm and she sighed.

"Sorry boy look's like you-"

"Gaige." Zer0 interrupted and pointed at the leg DT had attacked, "Look."

"What…" She looked up from her arm to where the Assassin was pointing and nearly shrieked. Her beloved robot was still stuck on the crystalisk, his eye lifeless and his chassis limp. Veins of Eridium crawled over his arm and onto his torso, the crystal appearing to want to consume DT. Fire burned under Gaige's skin, this problem had just gotten personal. She loaded her shotgun and gritted her teeth, ready to unleash a leaden hell.

Something crashed into her side, sending her sprawling to the ground and knocking the wind from her. She sucked in a lungful of strangely hot air and looked up.

Zer0 was crouched over her, staring hard at the crystalisk.

"Ugh! What the hell, Zer0?!" Gaige hissed and glared at her partner. He said nothing and instead pointed to a long scorch mark along the ground where Gaige had stood.

"Oh...THESE THINGS HAVE LASERS NOW?!" The Mechromancer screamed and scrambled to her feet as another white-hot laser nearly grazed her shoes. The two Vault Hunters dashed for cover behind their Technical, and dove behind it.

"What the hell do we even do to these things?! They're like...invincible!" She looked at the horde of creatures, noticing that none had seemed to take any significant damage, "We don't have the time or the ammo to shoot them all night an-"

Zer0 made a shushing noise and brought a finger to his helm. He pointed to one of the Crystalisks, the shard on its back glowing brightly and humming with power. He looked at the seven monsters and how only one seemed to be interested in killing them.

"Is simply living/ pushing these creatures too far?" He eyed the creatures, plotting his next moves carefully. "I need more data."

The Assassin took aim at the shard (which wasn't hard since it was a large target), tensed his finger on the trigger and waited. He took a breath and everything slowed, the only noise now was the fluid in his veins and the growing hum of power from the crystalisk 100 feet away. He waited, feeling the air grow heavier as if a thunderstorm was brewing, watching the monster hunch forward and brace itself.

Inhale. Exhale. Pull.

With a shattering crack, the Crystalisk cried out in pain-sounding like nails on a chalkboard, and bright trails of energy rippled through its body, cracking the infecting Eridium. The creature staggered and one of its legs snapped in half, leaving it even more immobile. But it was not dead, the Crystalisk chittered in distress and began charging again. Zer0 laughed and motioned for Gaige to watch.

"Watch. They are stronger / and quite intimidating / but not invincible." The Assassin took aim again, firing as soon as the charged crystal glowed its brightest. A larger pulse of energy rattled the monster and the Eridium infected crystals along its body began popping like lightbulbs.

"Talk about a real flaw," Gaige snorted and watched as her friend took his position one last time.

With one last shot, the injured crystalisk shrieked and popped. The Mechromancer cheered and held up her hand for a high-five, but Zer0 just stared at the remaining monsters and projected a "O.e" over his helm.

"Duck."

"What? AH!" Gaige gasped as the other Vault Hunter pulled her behind cover as several lasers hit the side of the Bandit Technical. The vehicle exploded in a cloud of smoke, fire, and debris, throwing a wave of heat and scorching metal against her shield. The energy barrier prevented any real damage, but Gaige still winced at the impact of some of the large bits. "Gonna have some bruises tomorrow."

As the smoke cleared, the other six beasts hummed with energy, charging for another attack. There was no way to interrupt them all without taking a large amount of damage. The Mechromancer sighed and looked over to Zer0...who wasn't...there. Gaige stared terrified as she witnessed the Assassin Gh0st out of sight and duplicate himself six times. Each virtual copy planted itself on top of a crystalisk and waited.

"Zer0 you crazy ass." The teen laughed and shook her head, knowing that all she could do was watch from a safe distance. She darted up a hill and watched as the monsters take aim at each other. "Man, these things are dumb."

In a blinding purple flash, the lasers went off all at once, and the shrill cries of pain rang through the air. Zer0 reappeared next to Gaige and gave a short laugh.

"Barely a challenge."

The two stood in silence for a few seconds before being interrupted by a deep bellow that resonated from within the abyss. It no longer sounded like a tremor; rather, it sounded like something alive.

"We need to tell Tannis about this."

Zer0 only nodded.

* * *

So. A few things to lay out first.  
I decided that during my absence to start up a new series called  
Pushing Boundaries. Which is pretty much a shameless indulgence series for my current Dragon Age obsession.  
But you should also give it a read because REASONS.  
Also. My writing style might change a little as the story progresses (and you'll all get to see the actual snarky asshole I truly am)  
ALSO ALSO.  
I have re-opened my commissions to bring in some nice extra cash-flow for the summer (and to prove to the parents that  
"Yes, I can make some money on my art")  
art/Advertisement-534305222  
so follow that link to see the details!


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